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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 39, Number 18, July 26, 1976.

Malaysian and NZ Systems Analysed

Malaysian and NZ Systems Analysed

Dear Sir,

The reaction to "Worried Students" by Malaysians have been largely confined to trading insults.

They were of a defensive nature, but do not attempt to deny the truth of the insults on which they were based.

The interesting thing is that the debate has managed to highlight similar social problems and issues in what appears to be different societies. The debate in my opinion should really start at the point where the similarities arise and we should ask Why?

I believe that the answer lies in the nature of the class system in Malaysia and New Zealand.

To understand why there is poverty, unemployment, slums, civil strife (e.g. demonstrations and strikes) prostitution etc; we should examine the inherent contradictions in the system. This may be seen in the unequal social and economic relationships between: the owners of the means of production and their

Both countries are neo-colonies in character, with an imported capitalist system superimposed on the existing society. This is not strange since they have a common source: Britain. (It is agreed here, that differences exist between the two societies but only as a trotter of degree and not in kind), wage slaves; the rich privileged and powerful class, and the poor. Under privileged weak (majority) class, the exploiter and the exploited.... All these contradictions are linked together for e.g. the owner of the means of production are often the rich and exploiters...

In order to see how poverty arises as regards workers let us examine an outline of the situation in Malaysia by using the contradiction of the employer and the worker. The workers may be described as wage slaves, a fact which sums up the lot of the workers in Malaysia.

In Malaysia, the late Tun Razak stated: "First and most important, we offer a politically and economically stable country, with a government which actively encourages the inflow of foreign capital. Wage rates in Malaysia are among the lowest in the Asian region. The daily wage of an average factory worker is about US$1 to US$2 per day around Kuala Lumpur... In the smaller towns and other states the rates could be even lower. Our daily wage rales, therefore are even less than your hourly rates."

This is a shameless admission of certain realities of the workers depressed situation. What the late PM of Malaysia was describing was the poverty stricken situation of the worker. One has to be born rich to work for those wages-average $NZ30 per month! Further what he meant by "politically and economically stable" was that unions have been reduced to impotence by law and therefore cannot effectively defend the workers.

On the other hand the foreign investor (so adored by many BCA students) and local compradore capitalists are guaranteed a carte blanche in exploiting the natural and human resources in Malaysia. The Malaysian government has refused to implement a minimum wage guarantee but has suggested that workers should receive of only 80 cents a day! (25 NZc) "Incentives" are offered to the plunderers such as "tax holidays" for periods worked out proportionately to the amount of money invested in the country, no restrictions on the outflow of profits, cheap rent on industrial sites e.g. 50c (NZ 5c approx) per acre! and a cheap and easily replaceable labour force, to be drawn from the thousands of unemployed.

Malaysia as such, has been described as a paradise for the foreign investor, second only to S. Africa.

If a workers has only $NZ30 a month to spend, not just on himself but on a family of 5 or 6; would there not be hunger, poverty, living in "slum" conditions and the connected human sufferings? One might add that indebtedness is a widespread problem in Malaysia. In NZ there are many people mortgaged up to their necks and also having to pay off a house full of H.P. goods. The situation is similar.

To better their conditions workers seldom have any recourse to justice. The government is careful to ensure their foreign masters are not displeased by appearing to stand on the side of the workers. So workers go on strikes and demonstrations as mentioned by some Malaysians in Salient. Is it so wrong to do this, when you have no way out except to obey the authorities and accept their unfavourable solutions? It is easy for us to condemn workers in NZ because we might have been inconvenienced. Do we think of the workers in Malaysia? Do we think of the hundreds of years of struggle by workers all over the world against their employers for better working conditions and higher wages? Are we employers or mere workers?

NZ is now facing the danger of a "Malaysian worker solution" which the National government is seeking to implement. This is being done by various means. The government deliberately creates disunity among workers by slandering the unions and deprecating their worth as representatives of the workers. It seeks by legal means to break up the power of the unions e.g. the voluntary unionism law that is at present being put forward in Parliament. All this is insidious and NZers lend to go their blind oblivious ways and not seriously question what their 'govt" is doing to them as workers. When the unions have been smashed the workers will find that over a period of time they begin to lose their bargaining power and suffer a drop in their standard of living since they no longer have powerful unions to fight for higher wages... It happened in Malaysia. Labour became "cheap" and people can't afford to lose jobs as they are easily replaceable, especially factory jobs. Workers become less willing to light their employers.....and therefore become weaker and weaker... Is this the NZ we want it to be?

I have attempted to see how poverty [unclear: l] and human sufferings have arisen in Malaysia and I believe that a similar process is already being set in motion in NZ. NZ is less fortunate than Malaysia in natural and human resources (cheap labour?!). The employers represented by Parliament see clearly that the day is drawing near when third world countries will severe their chains from their industrialised predators and begin to demand better deals from the latter, as is happening. How can NZ afford to pay for these demands in competition with its richer cousins? Connected with this, to maintain their profits, the employers must have a pacified work force which does not demand higher wages or challenge them so often as to disrupt "production" (hallowed word) which would increase costs. If they will have it they will cut worker's wages. They are already cutting overtime where feasible and possible. This process is tied up with the process of capitalist production. When it is not profitable to produce, workers get entrenched. Workers suffer. Why? If you are a mere student living on your meagre bursary you might understand. If you have to work you might understand even better. If you do not, you either live on fresh air or is too rich to bother.

The above discussion does not pretend to explain all the workings of the capitalist system but hopefully to point out some aspects of it which I consider are relevant to the points raised by "Worried Students" and Malaysian correspondents.

I welcome further discussion on this topic so that I can learn from more 'expert' writers as well as to elaborate on my own ideas. I also hope Malaysians will attempt to look at their society differently and not to rely on the BCA solutions approved of by the Malaysian government.

Why?